tFB Merch 2025: Bigger Boards!

digitalscream

UPDATE: Due to some serious technical problems, there will probably no longer be any merch on our stand at the show - further updates coming.

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After they did so well last year, and because I had no better ideas for merch at The Guitar Show this year, the boards and neck supports are back!

Just as a reminder, this is what they looked like...





This year, both will be making a reappearance at the show, and will be joined by a bigger version of the board - four slats on top, thus allowing two rows of full pedals (demo unit to follow, I need to find some time to grab the wood and build/paint it).

Tentative pricing will be:

Neck Supports
Subscribers: £5
Everyone else: £10
Everyone: £5

Small Board Kits
Subscribers: £10
Everyone else: £15

Bigger Board Kits
Subscribers: £15
Everyone else: £20

As before, the kits will come with everything you need to build them except the wood - all the screws, drill jigs and cable guides are included. The only difference with all of them is that there will probably be no tFB name plates with them this time - since the prices have gone up a bit, the free site advertising comes off. Also, they didn't turn out as well as I'd wanted, and I think they looked a bit naff with hindsight.

There will be limited quantities of each - both because I have limited time to print them all, and because there's only so much stuff you can fit in an Audi TT. That will probably amount to 20 large board kits, 10 small board kits and as many neck supports as I can make with the time remaining.

I suppose the only remaining question is...have we already saturated the market?

Brio

Brilliant news. I love my small but a bigger board will be ideal for my Kemper Player set up.

digitalscream

Brio said:

Brilliant news. I love my small but a bigger board will be ideal for my Kemper Player set up.

Yep, that should work fine - the larger board is 29cm from front to back

Brio

Put me down for one please.

roundthebend

I need a bigger board. I'm interested to know how people transport these for gigging? My pedaltrain nano+ has a lovely padded bag. Is there some generic thing I can get that would fit nicely, obviously dependent on width of slats used?

Can we get a link to the thread with examples of peoples' built-up boards?

roundthebend

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/262932/thefretboard-diy-pedalboard-kits-gallery-thread/p1

digitalscream

roundthebend said:

I need a bigger board. I'm interested to know how people transport these for gigging? My pedaltrain nano+ has a lovely padded bag. Is there some generic thing I can get that would fit nicely, obviously dependent on width of slats used?

Can we get a link to the thread with examples of peoples' built-up boards?

I'm a "chuck it in the gig bag" kind of guy, which probably doesn't help. It really depends on how wide you make it - they're 29cm deep, so you might have some luck with a laptop bag, or maybe go for a padded rucksack?

GoFish

Are there options for buying online?

Gassage

digitalscream said: time to print them all, and because there's only so much stuff you can fit in an Audi TT. 

I mean, there's all of those curling tongs, brushes and scissors to fit in, so we understand...

digitalscream

GoFish said:

Are there options for buying online?

There will be - I'll probably do a run of them in April, like last time.

Gassage said:

digitalscream said: time to print them all, and because there's only so much stuff you can fit in an Audi TT. 

I mean, there's all of those curling tongs, brushes and scissors to fit in, so we understand...

Hair dye boxes are surprisingly large.

roundthebend

digitalscream said:

roundthebend said:

I need a bigger board. I'm interested to know how people transport these for gigging? My pedaltrain nano+ has a lovely padded bag. Is there some generic thing I can get that would fit nicely, obviously dependent on width of slats used?

Can we get a link to the thread with examples of peoples' built-up boards?

I'm a "chuck it in the gig bag" kind of guy, which probably doesn't help. It really depends on how wide you make it - they're 29cm deep, so you might have some luck with a laptop bag, or maybe go for a padded rucksack?

I reckon the carrying problem can be sorted easy enough once I've decided on the width.
How can I order? Do I need to wait for the Guitar Show? 

digitalscream

roundthebend said:

digitalscream said:

roundthebend said:

I need a bigger board. I'm interested to know how people transport these for gigging? My pedaltrain nano+ has a lovely padded bag. Is there some generic thing I can get that would fit nicely, obviously dependent on width of slats used?

Can we get a link to the thread with examples of peoples' built-up boards?

I'm a "chuck it in the gig bag" kind of guy, which probably doesn't help. It really depends on how wide you make it - they're 29cm deep, so you might have some luck with a laptop bag, or maybe go for a padded rucksack?

I reckon the carrying problem can be sorted easy enough once I've decided on the width.
How can I order? Do I need to wait for the Guitar Show? 

'fraid so - we won't be packaging them until that night before. If you're going to the show, just show up and grab one If not, there may be some left over.

Ideally, I'd like a break before doing the second run, but if there's enough non-show demand then I'll try to do it sooner.

digitalscream

So...we can make quite big boards now (Thorpy for scale):



The bad news is that we may not have quite so many at the show as originally intended - I discovered a calibration problem this weekend which meant the recommended wood wouldn't fit most of the printed pieces. At this rate, there may only be 15-20 of them available, and probably no smaller kits.

Brio

That's a shame after all your work. Still love my small board.

digitalscream

Brio said:

That's a shame after all your work. Still love my small board.

It's actually worse than that. I discovered today that there's a major alignment problem with the printer, rendering everything I've printed so far useless.

Even worse, when I tried to do a test print to demonstrate the problem to support before calling them, it got the calibration wrong and smashed the cooling fan off the back of the toolhead.

The result is...there probably won't be any merch at the show. I'm angry beyond words at this point.

DuploLicks

digitalscream said:

Brio said:

That's a shame after all your work. Still love my small board.

It's actually worse than that. I discovered today that there's a major alignment problem with the printer, rendering everything I've printed so far useless.

Even worse, when I tried to do a test print to demonstrate the problem to support before calling them, it got the calibration wrong and smashed the cooling fan off the back of the toolhead.

The result is...there probably won't be any merch at the show. I'm angry beyond words at this point.

What a nightmare. Maybe we can crowd source some supply for the show? I’ve a P1S which I’d happily use to support tFB if that would help? 

digitalscream

DuploLicks said:

digitalscream said:

Brio said:

That's a shame after all your work. Still love my small board.

It's actually worse than that. I discovered today that there's a major alignment problem with the printer, rendering everything I've printed so far useless.

Even worse, when I tried to do a test print to demonstrate the problem to support before calling them, it got the calibration wrong and smashed the cooling fan off the back of the toolhead.

The result is...there probably won't be any merch at the show. I'm angry beyond words at this point.

What a nightmare. Maybe we can crowd source some supply for the show? I’ve a P1S which I’d happily use to support tFB if that would help? 

Appreciate the thought...it'd be a bit of a nightmare putting the kits together at the show, though.

I think I might've recovered the situation to some degree - I've solved the original issue of the geometry being way out, and I've dealt with the smashed fan by simply removing the fan. As long as I can get it printing at decent quality without direct cooling, I should be able to put 10-15 kits together. I don't anticipate selling a huge amount of them this year, but if there's demand then I'll certainly be doing another full run of them like the last one.

These printers are brilliant, but they're a fiddly beast to get to grips with. My first mistake was in buying it as a ready printer, I think...if I'd treated it more like a Voron that's been built but not quite finished, I'd be less annoyed by it. The second was jumping straight into a production run as soon as I'd put it together and calibrated it.

GoFish

I'm sorry to hear of your travails. I'd like a board and neck rest but not at the cost of your sanity so please be gentle with yourself.

digitalscream said:

......

Hair dye boxes are surprisingly large.

They have to provide coverage if you want the carpet to match the drapes.

digitalscream

Small price update - neck supports will be a fiver.

Looks like we're going to have 15-18 large pedalboard kits, and 8-10 small ones. If we've run out and anybody wants one...don't worry, there'll be another run once I've completed therapy.

lovestrat74

I think I requested a small board a while ago but it must have got lost in the ether. So can I resume my interest please

digitalscream

lovestrat74 said:

I think I requested a small board a while ago but it must have got lost in the ether. So can I resume my interest please

Sorry, I'm an idiot and it got lost in everything else that was going on. I'm just recovering from my daughter's wedding over the weekend, poke me by PM in a couple of days and I'll get it sorted for you